Page 108 - MERCIAN Eagle 2018

The Staffordshire Regiment Association
Helen Rayson MBE
As usual, 2018 was busy with different events happening; especially being my first full year as Assistant Regimental Secretary. There are a lot of things that l just took
for granted until l had to do the actual organising! On that note l would like to thank all of you for your support throughout the year. Without your help, l would have been struggling; you never failed to deliver when l called upon you for help, thank you. In real terms the association runs itself with each branch being mainly self-supporting with the Association being a focal point for major events. Some of those events and articles are in the Eagle.
I have mentioned only a few events
in my article, but l am very aware that branches have been busy with Battlefield tours remembering our lost comrades, fundraising, bucket shakes and so much more.
Unfortunately, there
has been far too many
funerals. Names of
comrades no longer
with us are Ivan Wrench,
Rick Minshull, Geoffrey
Chapman, Mel Roberts,
Phillip Holding, Norman
Biddulph, Stephen Dew, Terry Spooner, Paul Edgar, George Shufflebottom to name a few. Often families requested Standards, Bugler and Watchman to be at the
burial, and their presence along with their ‘extended family’ made it a very emotive moment for the families. Always a good attendance that does not go unnoticed by many. We have also lost 2 of our Chelsea Pensioners, Leslie Walker, late STAFFORDS, died in the Infirmary on 22 Nov 2018 and Charles Shrimpton, late WORCESTER Regiment died 21 Nov 2018. That leaves 2
alive and kicking, dear old Jim Fellows, South Staffordshire Regiment and a newcomer and youngster, 67 years old, John Byrne,
who was badged to Worcestershire
Regiment in 1967.
And finally, a big thank you to all of you in
supporting your heritage, the Kings Head.
It has come on leaps and bounds over the last year. Ransford has fully embraced us as a family; putting on entertainment, breakfast clubs, book launches, Charity raffles, meetings and of course good food. A pub filled with warm hospitality and nostalgia and it’s yours!
On that note l would like to thank all of you for your support throughout the year.
106
Wolverhampton Branch – Looking back of the last twelve months
Left to right back row = Chris Chalky Whitehouse, Gerry Simpson, Richard Jesse Owen, Ken Nightingale, Phil Fairbrace MVRA; front row = “H” Harold Loach who is the oldest member at 89, Michael Pritchard, Gordon Partridge, Barry Gotheridge with the Branch Standard, Peter Nobby Clarke Branch President, Ken Hamilton and Tony Terry
Wolverhampton have approximately 55 branch members with ages ranging from 33 to 89 years, so it is real “mixed bag”. The regular monthly meetings have plenty of banter and laughter, although I must
say that the majority of that is aimed at the committee just to make sure that they don’t take themselves too seriously!
Throughout the year we have held several events to try to keep everyone happy,
some of which have been organised by us, and some that we attend to support other organisations and branches.
2018 has been no exception to this and saw the branch Airsoft range deployed to the June Armed Forces Day events across our area. The main one being the Dudley “Himley” AFD event that was very well attended. It was so hot in the marquee used for the range, the “young guns” of
the branch (if you can call 45 to 60-year olds young), found themselves having to work very hard in steaming conditions. The 6 of them got through 48 frozen bottles of water on that day alone but once again it was a huge success. There were also other
Throughout the year we have held quite several events to try to keep everyone happy...
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